"The Girl who pretended to be a Boy"
I was wondering if anyone knows any other versions of Andrew Lang's "The Girl who pretended to be a Boy"? I'm writing a paper on the story, and I wanted to read through a few other versions besides Lang's. Thanks in advance!

estrildeRegistered User(4/20/06 7:03 am)

Re: "The Girl who pretended to be a Boy"
I have a version of it in a very old book called: 'Petre Ispirescu: Tales and Stories', translated from the Romanian by Ana Cartianu. In this book, it is called 'The Horse That Saved A Kingdom'. You may find online versions of it under this name.

balaustineUnregistered User(4/20/06 6:32 pm)

Re: "The Girl who pretended to be a Boy"
Hmm, I can't seem to find that story on the Internet. I did, however, search for Lang's heroine's name, "Fet-Fruners" or "Făt-Frumos," as it is spelled in Romanian, and found a wealth of information on the character. The stories are identical; the only problem is that Făt-Frumos seems to be a man throughout the entire story, and never a girl.

The parallel that I'm looking for in the different versions is a girl, dressed as a boy, rescues another girl. Lang's version seems to be the only one that has this element, from what I've read.

Rosemary LakeRegistered User(4/20/06 9:10 pm)

girl
[[ The parallel that I'm looking for in the different versions is a girl, dressed as a boy, rescues another girl. ]]

Lang
That is a fascinating story; I was surprised when I re-read it as an adult how that transformation didn't seem odd to me as a child. It would suggest something interesting about gender roles, but what it says of course it depends on when that particular part of the story came in.

Speaking of Lang's versions being different, I read the version of The White Cat on this site and was shocked that apparently the prince DOESN'T cut the cat's head off? I went back to the Lang version and was reassured that I hadn't made that up, at least-- there's a quite explicit illustration of a bloody headless cat. I know he changed the stories, but if Lang did introduce a gender-swapping princess, I'd be surprised, considering the Victorian context.

balaustineUnregistered User(4/20/06 11:23 pm)

girl
Is there a version in Calvino's book? I'm going to go hunt through my copy now!

estrildeRegistered User(4/21/06 5:23 am)

Re: girl
"The parallel that I'm looking for in the different versions is a girl, dressed as a boy, rescues another girl. Lang's version seems to be the only one that has this element, from what I've read. "

Yes, that is the story I have. My version is NOT identical to Lang's, there are differences in the translation, more (or less) detail is given in some places, the names are slightly different and so on. According to the book, my version is a direct translation from the Romanian.

Mathers, Powys, translator. "A Indian Princess Borrows a Jinni's Sex." The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night. From the French translation by Dr. J. C. Mardrus. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, Ltd., 1964. v. 4, p. 411.

To my knowledge, none of these are available online, but will hopefully be available in most university libraries.

Heidi

Rosemary LakeRegistered User(4/21/06 5:56 pm)

Calvino
It's been years since I read all those stories, but I'm pretty sure there were at least two about a girl masquerading as a boy, going off to do something heroic such as fight in a war. About that same time I remember at least a summary of a story about such a girl rescuing another girl, and iirc getting some sort of sex change to marry her. Whether both these memories came from Calvino I'm not sure. :-) The summary might have been in his notes about alternative versions, or in some other books I was reading at the time. I just remember it having the 'flavor' of his sort of stories, if that helps any. IE Mediterranean culture, bit risque, the sort of thing that would be in Basile or someone rather than in Grimm. Of course Lang took a lot from Italian sources too, such as Crane's Italian translations (not Walter Crane but Thomas Crane?)

Heidi, is the 514 tale type on D.L. Ashliman's site? There's not an option that lets me search for the number.

(I feel odd calling you by your first names; is it alright?)

Heidi Anne HeinerezOP(4/21/06 10:22 pm)

Re: Calvino
No, AT-514: A Girl Turns into a Man is not on my site nor Ashliman's (although this thread will soon dwell in the archives on SurLaLune). Neither are AT-884: The Forsaken Fiancee, AT-884A: Woman Disguised as a Man, nor AT-884B: The Girl as a Soldier. The Lang tale you originally mentioned is usually considered AT-884B. Here's the rest of the info from Ashliman's book.

AT-884B: The Girl as a Soldier

Calvino, Italo. "Fanta-Ghiro the Beautiful." Italian Folktales. George Martin, translator. New York: Pantheon Books, 1980.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in hardcover or paperback.

Dawkins, R. M., ed. and trans. "The Lord of the World Below." Modern Greek Folktales. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1953.

Villa, Susie Hoogasian. "The Work of the Genii." 100 Armenian Tales. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1966.

AT-884: The Forsaken Fiancee

Thomas, Rosemary Hyde. "Beausoleil." It's Good to Tell You: French Folktales from Missouri. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1981.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in hardcover.

Basile, Giambattista. "Bellucia." The Pentamerone. Benedetto Croce, translator. New York: Dutton, 1932. (Think it is also in Burton's translation which I haven't found online and am still considering etexting myself.)

Re: Calvino
The only problem with most of the stories listed is that the element of a girl rescuing another girl is absent from the plot. I'm trying to focus a bit more on that rather then the girl crossdressing as a man. But I will go and hunt down the stories, and hopefully find some more interesting parallels. Thanks so, so much, Heidi!

aka GreensleevesRegistered User(4/22/06 2:14 pm)

Re: Calvino
This is very interesting, as the girl-masquerading-as-boy-to-rescue-other-girl motif is a key element of Meredith Ann Pierce's recent novella "Rampion" (in Waters Luminous and Deep).

Veronica SchanoesRegistered User(4/22/06 5:34 pm)

girl rescues other girl
This is not a folktale, but a very interesting early...adventure story, I guess. Around 1656, Margaret Cavendish wrote a novella called "Assaulted and Pursued Chastity" (one of the best titles ever), in which the protagonist escapes from a man who is trying to rape her, dresses as a man, and rescues the queen of another country, who falls in love with her. It's a great story, marred only by an unfortunate ending (our protagonist ends up marrying the attempted rapist, who has Seen the Error of His Ways).

Rosemary LakeRegistered User(4/22/06 10:19 pm)

Calvino stories
Found my Calvino!

Neither 'Fanta-Ghiro the Beautiful' nor 'The King of Portugal's Son' has any rescue. The first sounds like a good way to settle a war, but the second isn't even a maarchen/fairy tale by most standards, imo.

Re: girl rescues other girl
I seem to remember a fairly long story in the Arabian nights about a girl who I believe dresses as a man and leads an army to rescue her husband, and who on the way ends up marrying another girl as a reward for some service that may or may not have been rescuing said girl. Anyway, I think she reveals the secret during the wedding night and the bride agrees to play along and help her out. This memory may not be entirely or even at all correct, but I hope it helps!

balaustineUnregistered User(4/23/06 5:36 pm)

Re: girl rescues other girl
Hm...could that be the story mentioned above, with the princess borrowing the djinn's sex? I haven't read it yet, because my campus library is so small, but it IS in the Arabian Nights. ...I think. :\

janeyolenRegistered User(4/25/06 1:07 am)

Re: girl rescues other girl
From folk tales such as the ones mentioned to epics like Bradamante to short stories like Yentl (Isaac Bashevis Singer) to stories of real-life pirate queens and Deborah Sampson girl-soldiers, we have been fascinated by girls cross-dressing as men and being heroic.

As if the heroism alone isn't enough.

Jane

balaustineUnregistered User(4/25/06 3:14 pm)

Re: girl rescues other girl
Jane, it's funny you mentioned that. I was angry at Andrew Lang the first time I read the story, because it seems that the girl isn't a proper hero because she isn't a man. Even though she passes all the tests/challenges put forth, in the end, she has to be turned into a man to gain her "happily-ever-after." She isn't even given a name as a woman, only when she pretends to be a man is she given the name "Fet-Fruners." It irks me.